On the Stylistic Characteristics of James Legge’s Translation of Lun Yu

Fang ZHU

Abstract

Closeness in style has always been the highest standard or the supreme goal of translation. A successful translation of Lun Yu is inseparable from the preservation of its original style. This paper examines whether James Legge’s translation of Lun Yu reproduced the original style from the linguistic point of view and the literary point of view respectively. A careful comparative study on the source text and the target text reveals that the stylistic features of Lun Yu have been preserved in Legge’s version in a considerable degree. This pioneer, and at the same time standard translation by Legge has provided us with so many good and useful translation techniques as well as enlightenment that it will continue to benefit the development of translation theory and practice. Key words: Lun Yu; translation; styleRésumé: La proximité de style a toujours été le standard le plus élevé ou le but suprême de la traduction. Une traduction réussie de Lun Yu est indissociable de la préservation de son style original. Cet article examine si la traduction de Lun Yu de James Legge a reproduit le style original du point de vue linguistique et littéraire respectivement. Une étude comparative soigneuse sur le texte source et le texte cible révèle que les caractéristiques stylistiques de Lun Yu ont été conservées dans la version de Legge à un degré considérable. La traduction standard de Legge nous a fourni tant de techniques de traduction de qualité et utiles ainsi que de l’éclaircissement qu'il continuera de bénéficier au développement de la théorie de la traduction et de la pratique.Mots-Clés: Lun Yu; traduction; style

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